Charlie Gehringer (1903)
Rip Sewell (1907)
Eddie Chiles (1910)
Jack Lang (1921)
Nestor Chylak (1922)
Milt Pappas (1939)
Frank Quilici (1939)
Jerry Martin (1949)
Dane Iorg (1950)
Mark Huismann (1958)
Walt Terrell (1958)
Trent Hubbard (1964)
Bobby Witt (1964)
Kerry Ligtenberg (1971)
Francisco Cordero (1975)
Miguel Sano (1993)
Rip Sewell (1907)
Eddie Chiles (1910)
Jack Lang (1921)
Nestor Chylak (1922)
Milt Pappas (1939)
Frank Quilici (1939)
Jerry Martin (1949)
Dane Iorg (1950)
Mark Huismann (1958)
Walt Terrell (1958)
Trent Hubbard (1964)
Bobby Witt (1964)
Kerry Ligtenberg (1971)
Francisco Cordero (1975)
Miguel Sano (1993)
Eddie Chiles was the owner of the
Texas Rangers from 1980-1989.
Jack Lang
was a long-time sportswriter in New York and was the secretary-treasurer of the
Baseball Writers Association of America from 1966-1988.
Nestor
Chylak was an American League umpire from 1954-1978.
Infielder/manager/broadcaster
Francis Ralph Quilici has been associated with the Twins for a long
time. He was born and raised in Chicago, attended Loras College of
Dubuque, Iowa, one of two major league players that school has produced (Red
Faber), then transferred to Western Michigan. Quilici signed
with Minnesota as a free agent in 1961. He was not a great batter in
the minors, but had a decent season at AA Charlotte in 1964 and was hitting
.277 in AAA Denver when he was called up to the majors in mid-July of
1965. He only hit .208 in Minnesota that year but started in the World
Series in place of the injured Jerry Kindall. Quilici was back in Denver
for all of 1966 and was a seldom-used reserve in 1967. In 1968 he got the
most playing time of his career, starting 34 games at second and 24 at third
and getting 229 at-bats. He didn’t do much with the playing time, and by
1969 he was essentially Harmon Killebrew’s late-inning defensive replacement at
third. In 1970, he was given another chance at second when Rod Carew was
out, but he didn’t do much with it and was released in April of 1971.
That ended Quilici’s playing career; he hit .214/.281/.287 in 682
at-bats. He became a coach with the Twins in 1971, and when Bill Rigney
was fired in July of the following year Quilici became the youngest
manager in the major leagues. He remained the manager through the 1975
season, when he was replaced by Gene Mauch. Quilici then joined the
Twins’ broadcasting crew, calling games for the team on radio from
1976-1977, 1980-1982 and on television in 1987. Quilici
was nominated as a candidate for the College World Series Legends Team.
At last report, he was living in Burnsville, Minnesota, was a member of the
board of directors of the Twins Community Fund, and participates in Twins’
fantasy camps. In August of 2011, a baseball field in North Minneapolis
was renovated and re-named “Frank Quilici Field” in his honor. It
serves as home to the North Minneapolis RBI program. He is also involved
in charitable work encouraging organ donation.
Third baseman/right fielder
Miguel Angel (Jean) Sano has been with the Twins since 2015. He was born
in San Pedro de Macoris, Puerto Rico and signed with the Twins as a free agent
in 2009. He dominated throughout the low minors, posting an OPS of over
.900 every year but 2012, when it was .893 for Class A Beloit. His
batting averages were not always high, but he always drew a lot of walks and
always hit for power. He reached AA in 2013, missed 2014 due to injury,
but came back strong in 2015, when he jumped from AA to the majors in early
July. He made an immediate impact, hitting .269/.385/.530 in a
half-season. Used mostly as a designated hitter, he was moved from his
natural position, third base, to right field in 2016. Whether that has affected
his batting is mere speculation, but his numbers are significantly down so far
this season. He'll never be a skilled outfielder, but unless the Twins
decide to make a move that's where he's going to be. The thought here is
that his slow start in 2016 is just that, a slow start. If the Twins
don't start messing with him, we're confident that before long he will once
again be a good hitter, as he always has been.
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